Army forces did not raid Yazidi political office in Ninewa – source

NINEWA /Iraqi News Iraqi army forces did not raid the office of the Yazidi Movement at the al-Qahtaniya district, west of Mosul city, a source from the Ninewa Operations Command said on Friday. “Our forces did not raid any office of any political party,” the source told Iraqi News. He said that our records show that no such operation was conducted by our troops. Earlier, Dildar Zebari, a Kurd and the deputy head of the Ninewa provincial council, said that a combined Iraqi army – Kurdish security force raided the office of the Yazidi Movement at the al-Qahtaniya district. He said that the force arrested a number of the movement’s members then released them. Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa province, lies 405 km north of Baghdad. Yazidis are primarily ethnic Kurds and most live near Mosul, with smaller communities in Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Russia, Syria, and Turkey. They number around 800,000 individuals in total, but estimates of their population size vary, partially due to the Yazidi tradition of secrecy about their religious beliefs. Sinjar, 120 km northwest of Mosul, is inhabited by Yazidis, a religious minority whose followers are generally situated in northern Iraq. Some 350,000 Yazidis live in villages around Mosul, 405 km north of Baghdad. MH (S)/SH 1